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Commission asks City Council to send SFPUC-focused questions through BOSCA after reviewing one‑water plan
Summary
After reviewing the city’s one‑water vulnerability assessment, the Utilities Advisory Commission forwarded a letter asking Council to request that BOSCA and the SFPUC run sensitivity scenarios on demand and supply assumptions, and to publish the calculation behind the design‑drought return period.
The Utilities Advisory Commission voted 7–0 to forward two letters to the City Council related to regional water planning and the SFPUC’s assumptions for long‑term supply.
The commission’s water‑policy subcommittee prepared a four‑point letter addressing perceived problems in the City’s One Water vulnerability assessment, including concern that the study relies on a single, severe “design drought” and on an SFPUC‑supplied cutback scenario the subcommittee judged to need further validation. The commission approved forwarding that subcommittee letter, with an amendment to the report language about the return‑period calculations and modeling scenarios, to the City Council.
Separately, Commissioner Tooker proposed a second, shorter letter asking the City Council to pursue clearer answers from the SFPUC through BOSCA (Bay Area regional wholesale customer forum). After discussion and edits to focus the requests, the commission passed a motion to forward that letter to council and to ask council to request the SFPUC provide three specific items:
1) An explanation of the calculation behind the design‑drought return period and sensitivity on a less‑severe design drought; 2) A sensitivity analysis that shows the impact on the risk of running out of water (and associated costs) using alternative demand scenarios — for example, SFPUC finance bureau projections, BOSCA/2022 demand study projections (high/low), and current usage projected forward; 3) Using the three drought scenarios analyzed in the long‑term vulnerability assessment, an analysis of what storage levels and deficits would have looked like under current demand if the Bay‑Delta Plan had been implemented.
Commissioners said the requests are intended to obtain clearer, SFPUC‑produced scenarios so Palo Alto and neighboring customers can better judge the scale and timing of possible investments in alternative supplies. Peter Drechmeier of the Tuolumne River Trust spoke during public comment and urged clearer, SFPUC‑produced scenario runs and noted that demand‑projection methodology has a material influence on the size of any alternative water supply needed.
Staff said it will forward the letters to the City Council; council may route them to BOSCA or transmit them directly to the SFPUC as it deems appropriate. The commission asked that Council prioritize getting those responses so the UAC can incorporate them into future advice on water planning and rate recommendations.
